Even though it’s August, the signs of fall are already showing up in Washington, DC.  I went to the farmer’s market in Old Town Alexandria this weekend and the first of the apples were for sale.  It’s hard to believe the summer is almost gone.  It always seems so short!

Kevin Tumlinson on Medium

Self Publishing Destroys the Universe

Post is courtesy of the Writer above.  It goes after all the nonsense that self publishing means the books are terrible, or that somehow writing fewer books a year ensures quality.  A lot of silliness debunked.

World War Wings

Rare Footage of the Blackbird’s Last Flight

My father worked for Lockheed in Burbank, the company that developed the Blackbird.  One year, we went up to Palmdale for an organization day, and the Blackbird was on display.   I remember it had a guard in front of it and seemed kind of small.  I recently went to the Smithsonian, where the plane is on display.  It was huge!  I had to ask my father what he remembered, and he thought it was small, too.  So that one many years ago might have been a test model or one for display.   The video shows footage of the jet flying and landing.  Link from Wayne Guenther, Desert Storm veteran.

Helen Sedwick on Bookworks

5 Legal Myths That Writers Still Fall For, Debunked

This hits a bunch of myths floating out there that I’ve heard, like mailing your story to yourself.  The one that stands out most for me is #3.  There was a big lawsuit when a writer published a book with a very recognizable person in it, just renamed.  The individual was so recognizable that people who had read the book were commenting on it to her.  The writer was sued and lost.  Link from Anne Allen.

Orson Scott Card on Galaxy Press

Are We At the End of Science Fiction?

This is an interesting look at the science fiction genre.  It hasn’t sold well for a long time–I’ve seen several resources say the low sales are because they don’t have happy endings.  I’ve found myself passing on a lot of stories because the world has ended and humans are fighting for survival, and it’s such a negative for me that I don’t want to read it.  My own dream–completely outrageous–is that I want to be the writer like J.K. Rowlings who does that for science fiction.  Link is courtesy of the Writers of the Future Contest (I have three honorable mentions).

Tom on Feedreader

Information Overload vs. the Human Brain: Infobesity Causes, Symptoms, and How to Beat It

Overload is something I’ve had to look at because of my day job.  Most of the time management books talk about how to jam more in each day, not on how to push back on the sheer amount of data coming in a warp speed at us.  It’s always good to conduct a review of what we look at and drop anything that’s maybe not worth the time.  I’ve unfollowed sites that got too political over what their content should be, and others because they post way too many articles on a daily basis.

Kristen Lamb

Wonder Woman Vs. Atomic Blonde–What Truly Makes a Powerful Female Character?

I remember seeing one of the first books with this strong (and armed) female character, and it was just magic.  It filled a hole left by characters who whimpered in the corner and did nothing to help themselves.  Somehow it evolved in books to smart-mouthed characters I didn’t like and in movies to characters who seemed to be men in disguise.  This is a good discussion on what Wonder Woman did.  We’ll see if the film industry gets smart…

Filed under: History, Military, productivity, technology, Writing Tagged: Copyright, Information Overload, science fiction, Self-publishing, SR-71